Archos DVR Station
- Easily record your favorite programs with the included TV program guide(1). Select your program on the program grid and schedule the recording with a click of the remote control.
- HD content play back: Play back HD videos up to 720p from your ARCHOS to your TV (with the optional Hi-Def plug-in).
- Full Internet experience: Browse the Web comfortably and write your emails using the included remote control.
- Faster charging: Charge your ARCHOS quickly (not available for ARCHOS 7).
- Media Club: Discover a large library of movies, documentaries, music albums and games. Buy or rent your content in a few clicks and get instant access to it on your TV.
Product Description
Turn your ARCHOS Internet Tablet into a Digital Video Recorder; The DVR Station is the perfect bridge between your TV and your ARCHOS 5, ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet or ARCHOS 7: record your TV programs and turn your TV into a real multimedia platform connected to the Web. Just insert your ARCHOS into the DVR Station and enjoy all the functions of your ARCHOS tablet on your home TV…. More >>
I bought the 5, the extended battery, the dvr station, heck i bought all the assessories. Then downloaded everything paying 20 bucks a pop. then set it up to try dvr recording with hdmi output to sony 52 inch lcd. I manually tested recording and then playback. I tried every thing. THE AUDIO WILL NOT SYNC UP WITH THE VIDEO. DRIVES YOU CRAZY. Cannot literally get a response to email about the situation or much less RMA of DVR device from archos. So DVR will not work unless you like playback with mouth and voice not moving at the same time.
Rating: 1 / 5
I bought this DVR station to go with my Archos 7 so I could record TV shows to watch while working out at the gym. I am highly disappointed that Archos added only the minimum required to call it a DVR station!
1. There is no HDMI input, only an output. I have HDTV but I am not able to record shows onto my Archos in HD since there is no HDMI input. How archaic.
2. The setup was terrible. We plugged it in with the suggested SVID cables and had a HORRIBLE picture on the TV and the Archos. We tried another TV & had the same problem. Tried RCA instead of SVID with very little improvement. Called Archos and they said to buy new SVID cables to replace the ones that came with the station! We were finally able to get the SVID cables to work by just wiggling them around in the DVR station and in the back of our DISH receiver. Searching for a resolution on the internet showed that several people had the same problem.
3. The advertised TV programming guide is NOT AVAILABLE IN THE US! We called Archos after having trouble downloading it and were told that the website was down. 2 days later we called back and were finally told that the website has been down for 2 years and they will not be putting it back online for the USA. TV shows can still be recorded manually if you set the start and end time on the Archos similar to how we used to record with a VCR.
I am still able to use the product and I prefer to keep it rather than return it, but I am VERY disappointed with the many limitations and the cost based upon what the station is capable of. Archos has the technology to make a great DVR station, but it seems they held out drastically. It might be easier to download shows from the internet, if available, and transfer them to your Archos avoiding the DVR altogether.
Rating: 2 / 5
Summary: This product is best thought of as an Archos media tablet docking station. It provides the tablet device with power and external connectors, and not much else. As long as that is all you need, it performs that function well when mated to the associated Archos media tablet.
Caution: Bridge Out Ahead….
The biggest issue that most people will have with the DVR Station is the way it is connected into the typical entertainment system. Their connection guide shows this as a bridge device in-between a video source (like a satellite receiver) and the TV. The trouble with this approach is that there is no video pass-through functionality when the installed tablet is powered down or removed. This will pose a major problem for multi-person households where one person might want to watch some video programming while their housemate has the tablet elsewhere. This was the major show-stopper in our household. The only way around this limitation is to invest in additional electronic HW (like a multi-output AV receiver) so that the video source can be split/shared between the TV and the media tablet.
This Is Not Your Father’s DVR…
(The rest of this pertains more to the Archos 5 Internet Tablet than the DVR Station, but, since you wouldn’t be buying the DVR Station unless you wanted to take advantage of the DVR functions of the tablet, it is pertinent data.)
The details around the “DVR” functionality of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet combined with this device are sketchy at best. While the combination does meet the definition of a Digital Video Recorder in that it “records video in a digital format to a disk drive or other memory medium within a device”, you should not expect much more functionality than that (time-shifted viewing being the biggest missing DVR-like feature).
My tablet with nothing added but the latest, up-to-date FW fixes could not even handle recording in 4:3 mode without serious video stutter/jitter. I was able to get a reasonably smooth video recorded if I put it into 16:9 mode, but this tended to chop off the top and bottom of most programming as my satellite receiver is still producing 4:3 content. This really put a crimp on the hockey game I was experimenting with as you could no longer see the scores and game info at the top of the screen. This combination is definitely a non-starter for those of us that haven’t made the jump to HD cable/satellite content.
Overall: The DVR Station might make a good addition for someone that has extra video outputs to play with, has all of their content in 16:9 format, and is willing to live with a “jiggle the handle” approach to video recording until the kinks get sorted out, but, for the rest of us, it’s “Buyer Beware”.
Rating: 2 / 5
Pro: It’s “pretty” and is a good concept that’s execution may fit your needs
Con: The execution falls short from what is advertised and what I expected
Growing weary of Apple I wanted to give a non-iPod creation a shot and am sorely disappointed. The only reason I bought the Archos 7 and DVR station was so I could record TV from the program guide. I was unable to bring up the program guide successfully so I called the customer support line 2 nights ago and they said the third party server was down for the moment but to check back later.
I have now received my e-support ticket response and it says: “I’m very sorry but the TV program guide has been discontinued in North America.
If you have a subscription that you have paid for, please give us a call at 877-300-8879 and we will issue you a refund for it.”
This service was to be free for a year and available to all purchasers. I think I can still schedule things like a VCR, but the DVR functionality would be cool and set Archos apart from the rest. Apart from the VCR like functionality the only benefit is being able to hook your Archos up to your computer, which is in no way unique.
BTW, there are products that can record TV like this for $70 at Bed Bath and Beyond.
Rating: 1 / 5
The DVR Program worked pretty good for older generation, but after getting this for archos 5, I have learned that the TV Program Guide Service has been down for many months now per [...]. The archos site says nothing about this and is continuing to sell the product even though it will only allow manual recordings. As great as the archos can be, it is even more frustrating, especially with lack of information from tech support.
Stay away from this until you know for sure that the service is even up.
Rating: 1 / 5